through the Spencer Foundation, gave me the resources and the opportunity to carry out the research upon which this book is based. The spiritual guidance of the Reverend and Mrs. Emil M. Thomas kept me from feeling discouraged and defeated during a period of serious illness. The teachers, parents, students, and community in which I did my research gave generously of their time and energy to make this project happen. And my family—my husband, Charles, and my children, Jessica and Kevin—gave me the time and the support to make this book a reality.
In the final analysis, however, I assume full responsibility for the contents of this book. The ideas and opinions expressed and the mistakes made are mine alone.
Madison, Wisconsin Gloria Ladson-Billings
THE AUTHOR
Gloria Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the 2005–2006 president of the American Educational Research Association. Ladson-Billings’ research examines the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students. She also investigates Critical Race Theory applications to education.
Ladson-Billings is the author of the critically acclaimed books, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms, and Beyond the Big House: African American Educators on Teacher Education, and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters. She is the former editor of the American Educational Research Journal and a member of several editorial boards. Her work has won numerous scholarly awards, including the H. I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship, the Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship, and the Palmer O. Johnson outstanding research award. In 2002 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. During the 2003–2004 academic year she was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California. In fall 2004 she received the George and Louise Spindler Award from the Council on Anthropology and Education for significant and ongoing contributions to the field of educational anthropology. In spring 2005 she was elected to the National Academy of Education and the National Society for the Study of Education. She is a 2008 recipient of the state of Wisconsin’s Martin Luther King Jr. Heritage Award and the Teachers College, Columbia University, 2008 Distinguished Service Medal. During the 2008–2009 year she was named the Helen LeBaron Hilton Distinguished Chair of the Iowa State University College of Human Sciences.
INTRODUCTION
About 30 years ago I walked into some elementary classrooms to observe some amazing teachers engage in rigorous, authentic teaching with students that much of the education research literature regarded as unlikely to experience academic success. What I witnessed was not only academic success. I saw students who affirmed themselves individually, socially, and culturally. I also saw students who engaged in real-life problem-solving that had implications for them as members of their school community as well as their wider community. Ultimately, I described these teachers as “Dreamkeepers” and the work they did as “culturally relevant pedagogy.” Both terms have gained some traction in the education research literature. Indeed, “culturally relevant pedagogy” produces some five and a half million hits on a Google® search.
Since the publication of Dreamkeepers I have talked to thousands of teachers, teacher educators, students, administrators, and community members throughout the nation and around the world—England, Scotland, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, China, Spain, and other countries. Everywhere I have traveled I have learned of students who have been marginalized because of race, ethnicity, language, religion, and/or immigrant status. And, each of these groups of students have struggled to be successful in what might be considered the public schools. Educators and policymakers have wondered how they could adapt the work of the teachers they studied to their specific contexts. Early on I began see that the work of the teachers I studied was not merely descriptive, it was generative.
Since that initial study I have had the opportunity to learn of scores of classrooms where teachers have, despite various systemic inequities, challenged students to rigorous and engaging curriculum in all kinds of subject areas—history/social studies, English, mathematics, and science. I have witnessed teachers go out of their way to help students feel valued and appreciated. I have seen teachers help students with social-emotional and mental wellness issues that led to academic improvement and deeper commitment. I have seen teachers do what I call the “Rumpelstiltskin” pedagogy—spin straw into gold where they had little resources and minimal support but were still able to deliver first rate classroom experiences for their students. I will explain some of these experiences in detail in this volume’s afterword but in this introduction I would like to focus on two important innovations that should impact today’s “Dreamkeepers”—technology and youth culture (aka hip-hop).
Technology Take Over
For today’s students electronic technology is a part of their everyday way of life. I call today’s students, “New Century Students.” For the most part, their teachers were born in the 20th century, they were born in the 21st century. I have had an opportunity to make some observations about New Century Students and these observations have implications for how they operate in the classroom:
1 New Century Students believe in multi-tasking, even though cognitive scientists tell us that multi-tasking is not efficient.1 Our students believe they can listen to music on their Spotify playlist, check their social media pages, text a friend, browse websites, and write a paper. However, the research indicates that only about 2 percent of the population are good at attending to more than one thing. Students who multi-task perform less well than those who attend to one task. However, this does not stop our students from trying to multi-task.
2 New Century Students see themselves more as “consumers” than students. Thus, they tend to “shop” for schools, classes, and teachers. This consumerist attitude is not their fault. We have cultivated the notion of “choice” when it comes to school and students have taken advantage of it. They may live in a district where there is “open enrollment” and choose to go to any school in the district. They may choose a charter school over their neighborhood school. They may live in a district or state that promotes private school vouchers or they may opt out of brick-and-mortar schooling altogether and choose to do “homeschool” or online schooling. All of these choices means that students grow accustomed to “shopping” for their education and like consumers of other goods and services, they expect a certain degree of customer satisfaction. To maintain enrollment, some schools may acquiesce to student and parent demands that may determine course offerings and final grades.
3 New Century Students do not receive their news about the world the ways their parents did via newspapers and nightly television news broadcasts. They receive their news and information via push notices from their favorite Internet sites, blogs and programs like “The Daily Show.” Thus, teachers who may want to incorporate current events in their classrooms must be prepared to hear a variety of perspectives on an item and multiple perspectives on what was the news story of the day. It may not be the political news out of Washington. It can be entertainment news (e.g., Beyoncé dropped an album and video last night), sports news (e.g., Kevin Durant was traded to the Nets) or tech news (e.g., Apple is introducing a new iPhone). These varied perspectives on what constitutes news makes for interesting classroom conversations and the need for teachers to demonstrate some pedagogical flexibility.
4 Although heavily invested in “social justice” New Century Students are less sanguine about “social welfare” (particularly if they have to bear the costs).
